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Why Doug Ford called this election
If you did venture out into the snow or sleet today to cast a ballot, you may have wondered, “why, exactly, are we doing this?”
And you know what? Fair question. The answer depends on who you ask.
Ford called this snap election nearly 16 months early. He said he needs a bigger mandate (read: more seats in the legislature) to weather possible U.S. tariffs.
There are a few holes in that logic. One, Ford’s PCs already had a commanding majority. They could pass any legislation they wanted, regardless of how the opposition felt about it.
Two, Ford first started publicly musing about a possible early election last May, a full six months before Trump made his first tariff threat.
Ford also argued that the province’s tariff response will require spending tens of billions of dollars, and he can’t do that without voters’ approval. But Ford has rarely shied away from big spending promises in the past.
Last September (again, two months before the tariff threat) he vowed to build a tunnel under Highway 401 through the GTA. That’s a project that’d likely cost anywhere between $60 billion and $100 billion, according to experts. No renewed voter mandate required.